Colouring Easter Eggs Again ...

April 21, 2017

This morning ... the table was set ...

to colour more Easter Eggs ...

(I had a deal with the Easter Bunny ... so we were able to postpone the egg hunt ...

until daddy and Alana arrived ...)

The kids did a fabulous job on decorating the Easter Eggs ...

Grandpa needed help to pick up a fallen tree ...

out in the field ...

The boys were totally into doing the job ...

as they were able to drive the truck ... 

ANYWHERE ... that Grandpa needed them to be ...!!! 

 

While the guys were out working in the field ...

Ella was in the kitchen ... preparing the base and filling ...

to make Butterscotch Squares ...

I was in the process of making a pot of soup ...

Ella wanted to use my handy chopper/dicer ... to cut up some celery ...

Ummm ... I think there was some celery missing ...

Hey ...!!! What's that in her cheeks ...!!!

 

P

These guys are too funny ... James was laughing so hard ...

they were mimicking Grandpa ... with pulling there stretchy pants way up on their bellies ...

and walking around like Grandpa does ... when he is fooling around ...

and pestering me ...

Hmmm ... Ella has a cane ... oh dear ... I hope she isn't playing me ??? 

No ... she wouldn't ... or would she ...???

Craig was helping Grandpa put the new sticker on the Jeep for this years insurance coverage ...

There was quite a buildup of stickers ... so Grandpa gave Craig the heat gun ... to heat them up to peel them off ...

before putting the new one on ...

 

Finally daddy and Alana arrived ...

the guys were all outside ... and Alana inside ... making Slime with Ella ...

She had been waiting for Alana ... to bring the ingredients ...

It's yucky stuff ... to gooey and slimey for me ...!!!

 

Working in the Shop ...

April 18, 2017

The icepack cover that Ella finished knitting ... was for my knee ... I had knee surgery April 11th ... Ella was my lttle nurse maid ... and she took care of me ...

 

Ella went into the shop and approached Grandpa ...

She figured I needed a cane to use outside ...

Grandpa helped her gather the supplies needed ...

he also guided her on the construction of the cane ...

A padded handle and a cane cap was put on ...

then the finishing touches of painting it white ...

I was delighted to have this cane made especially for me ...

It worked really well for outside ...

I could keep my inside cane clean ...

Thank you Miss Ella ... I luv it ... !!!

 

Craig took a selfie showing his fat lip ...

after he wipedout on the BMX track last week ...

He is doing much better now ...

He was happy working on an old ary tank model in the shop ...

James was busy outside getting the little quad running ...

Ella gave Grandpa a hand with sanding ...

the new stand that Grandpa made for the FM radio ...

Once she was finished with the sanding ... 

she came in the house to check on me ...

and help with making icing for the chocolate cake ...

Of course having a taste from the spatula before adding sprinkles on the cake ...

The gang went out to inspect the new track that James had built ...

taking his R/C out to test drive it ...

It'll need a little adjustment on some of the curves ...

Some elbow grease and time will make it better ...

Grandpa gave Ella a hand to make sure her dirt bike was ok ...

(I think Grandpa might be a little too big ... yikes ...!!!)

She was ready to go ... and so was James ...

They were headed down to the neighbours for a visit ... 

and see how long Grandpa was going to be working on the trench ...

It was nice to see Tag and Travis again ...

The kids enjoyed visiting and the treats that Bonnie had given them ...

After a short visit ... we made our way home ... for a nice relaxing evening ...

 

 

 

A Slimy Evening ...

February 25, 2017

After our delicious Greek dinner ... we headed back to the house with all the craft supplies ...

Ella really wanted to make homemade slim ... yuk ... !!!

Nathan and Alana ... helped out with this craft ...

A generous amount of pink and blue Elmer's Glue with sparkles ... was poured into a tubs ... 

Then a small amount of Borax was dissolved in a cup of water ...

 small amounts of the water was mixed in with the glue ...

 mixing it until it started to smooth gel ... it sure was sticky ...

 The kids mixed up some other colours of slim ... 

using  food colouring and mixing in sparkles ... they continued to knead and stretch the slim ...

 Craig was busy ... in his room ... working on his R/C truck ... 

He could here all of us out in the kitchen laughing and making weird sounds with 

handling the slim ...

Grandpa and Nathan checked in on Craig ... to see how things were going ...

Alana was having a fun time ... playing with the slim ...

she found some straws and started to blow into the slim blob ...

The kids were laughing so hard ... they wanted to try it ... 

Craig even came out of his room ... to see what all the commotion was about ...

James had blown the largest bubble ... it was massive ... !!!

They were having so much fun ...

The table was cleared of all the slim ingredients ... for Nathan to work on his (old) R/C car ...

He has had that car for years ... and since the boys were working on theirs ... 

he wanted to get his car up and running ...

It wasn't long before Nathan's car was working ... "it lives again" ...

the guys decided to go outside and race ...

It was getting late and dark out ... but that didn't matter ... the race was on ...

Nathan was surprised at how well his old car drove ...

against Craig's new R/C truck ...

While the guys were working and playing ...

Alana and Ella sat on the couch ... (with "Holly" the cat nearby) ... 

colouring in their Zen Colouring books ...

together ... sharing all the colouring pencils ...

I think Holly was feeling left out ... and decided to join them ... 

right in the middle of the pencil packages ...

Alana was playing with her ... and Ella laughing as Holly was clawing at the pencil ...

It defiantly was a full day of activities ... 

It was nice to spend the weekend with them ...

before we left for our holidays ... to Arizona and Houston ...

Handmade Gift ...

May 27, 2016

Andrea and Maria wanted to come and see us again ...

at their grandparents house ...

I was surprised to have received a small little package from Andrea ...

inside was a handmade iPhone cover ...

Andrea had spent her time knitting it for me ... she did a great job ...

I was so touched ... Thank you Andrea and Maria ...

It was another beautiful day ...

I decided to take the girls for a walk into town ...

We did go to the cemetery ...

for the girls to water the flowers on their Great-grandparents grave ...

We then walked back to town and stopped for some ice-cream ...

before going back home ...

Mike and I were going to have a special afternoon ...

with our cousins Rudi and Christa ...

 

 

Houston Pictures ...

The high waters in Houston, Texas ...

just 5 blocks from Ian & Kendall's home ...

They had so much rain in April ...

Nixon loves to dress-up ... today it's Venom ...

Daigen and his teacher washing Kendall's car ...

a fund raiser for Westview School ...

honouring Autism month ...

Daigen created this friendship bracelet for his pen pal ...

He did an awesome job ... !!!

This is Daigen's new 6lb weighted aromatherapy blanket ...
that was made for him ...

 

More Pictures ...

Enjoying my walk this morning ...

to the neighbours to look after the fish and birds ...

taking a few pictures again with different settings ...

Walking down the driveway ...

I spotted a feather from a Stellar Jay laying in the snow ...

Once again playing with shutter speed, ISO and apertures ...

wanting to see the results once the pictures were downloaded ...

and taking notes ...

Having fun and learning lots ... !!!

 

 

Different Settings Used ...

 

Taking a few pictures ... with my Pentax camera ...

practising after my camera course ...

with the exposures ... and other settings ... in manual mode ...

Hoping to get a better understanding of how my cameras work ...

 

Perfect Snow Conditions ...

November 17, 2015

What a beautiful sight to see first thing this morning ...

couldn't wait to go outside to shovel off the decks ...

Once I started ... the snow was the perfect consistency to make a snowman ...

so ... I dropped the shovel and started to roll the first snowball ...

 

After building my snowman ... I went to the garden to dig up a carrot ...

and gathered two rocks and a couple of branches ...

then went indoors to get a toque and a scarf ...

And ..

here is my first snowman of the season ... !!!

Enough of playtime ... had to finish shovelling ... !!!

 

Shortly after we had cleaned off the decks ...

the snowfall had turned to rain ...

I turned on the light to the patio after dinner ... and this is all that is left of my snowman ...

the rain continues to fall ... !!!

I'm afraid that there will be nothing left of my snowman by morning ... !!!

I know that I will have many chances to build more snowmen ...

with the winter season upon us ... !!!

 

 

Creative Grandchildren ...

The boys sitting at the table ...

Daigen has his new therapeutic listening system on while he is doing his homework ...

and

Nixon is busy using scissors ... cutting little pieces to glue onto a piece of paper ...

Both of them in full concentration mode ... !!!

 

I knitted these slippers for the boys ...

while they were still living in Canada ...

I am surprised Nixon is wearing them in warm Houston, Texas ... !!!

 

I received this drawing from Craig ...

this morning ...

He created this lovely rose at his drawing class last night ...

Amazed at the detail for someone at such a young age ...

Well done Craig ... !!!

 

 

More Firewood ...

October 16, 2015

A cool rainy evening ...

decided to make a turkey pie ... to use up the rest of the Thanksgiving Turkey ...

Perfect dinner to watch the Blue Jays ball game ...

The house was a little chilly ...

so while we were watching the ball game ...

I decided to gather up the materials that were needed ...

to whip up a pair of crochet slippers to warm my feet ...

It's that time of year ... having the cooler nights ... !!!

 

October 17, 2015

It was a beautiful day ...

to cut up another load of firewood ...

to fill the woodshed ...

Mike was bucking up the logs ... while I was using the wood splitter ...

and tossing the firewood in the truck ...

Mike ended up helping with the wood splitting and loading ...

once he was finished cutting up the logs ...

together we took the load down to the woodshed ...

and stacked this load ...

After the first truckload was unloaded ...

we went back to get another one ...

I took a wheelbarrow full of smaller pieces down to the house ...

to warm up the basement ...

starting a fire in the wood stove ...

Soon another load of firewood was stacked in the woodshed ...

One more day is needed to fill it up to the top ... !!!

Another good days work out in the sunshine ...

soaking up the warmth ...